


Eye Smile

by ieloveshobi



Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Jeno’s paralyzed I’m sorry I had too, M/M, Yiggity yee I promise it’s not sad, blink and you’ll miss the markhyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 13:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14545509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ieloveshobi/pseuds/ieloveshobi
Summary: In which Jeno hasn’t smiled in two years and Jaemin might just be able to fix that





	Eye Smile

The job sounded too good to be true, a part-timer wanted to help assist disabled patients placed in a care home, no experience required and no recommendations needed. So when Jaemin heard about it from Mark and applied, he figured that they would probably go for someone who was an experienced caretaker, and, you know, not in high school anyway, so when he got hired for the job he was pretty shocked. He was beyond elated but couldn’t shake the feeling that something, whether it be good or bad, was going to happen.

The very next day Jaemin showed up for his shift a bit early, wanting to grasp the ropes of everything. Mark had offered to show him around and he was quickly getting the hang of things, he’d already meet a few nurses and the two residential doctors, as it was a small care home. Jaemin noticed a boy sitting in a wheelchair, and in that moment Jaemin had never seen someone so sad yet so breathtakingly beautiful, “I see you’ve spotted Jeno,” Taeil, one of the nurses that took over once Mark left, said as he noticed Jaemin’s gaze. “He’s the youngest one here,” Taeil continued. 

“Why does he look so sad?” Jaemin asked clearly being slow to grasp the situation, Taeil sighed, “He’s paralyzed from the waist down, when he first got here he was so hopeful, he was thirteen and always said that he’d be out of here by the time his fourteenth birthday rolled around, he was always smiling and he gave physical therapy his all. He cheered us all up. He had a contagious smile, one of the eye smiles,” Jaemin was confused, there was no way that the boy in the wheelchair was fourteen, or the smiling happy boy he had just heard of.

“Once Jeno’s fourteenth birthday rolled around he said he’d get out by his fifteenth. Not once did he ever seem like he’d lost hope, and he kept pushing through with therapy. But by the time his sixteenth birthday rolled around, he didn’t smile much anymore. Now, it’s been almost two years since anyone’s seen him smile. He’s almost eighteen. Maybe you can talk with him,” Taeil explained, frowning at the story. Jaemin found himself tearing up at the story. Jeno was the same age as him, and if he was here that meant he didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Jaemin walked over to Jeno, “Hi! I’m Na Jaemin! I’m the new caretaker,” Jaemin introduced charismatically, the boy almost never had a problem speaking with people, it came naturally to him, but he soon realized it would be hard to do that with Jeno. Jeno looked up at the sunkissed boy and then directed his gaze back to the window, “I heard we’re around the same age so I wanted to get to know you,” Jaemin continued, inwardly cringing at how unsure that sounded, knowing damn well that it sounded like he was pitying the boy, when in reality he wanted to befriend the boy. “Na Jaemin was it?” Jeno suddenly asked, his voice seeping with sadness as if it had always been there. Jaemin nodded before realizing that Jeno couldn’t see it and then muttered a ‘yes’. “Piss off. Take your pity with you,” and with that Jeno expertly turned the wheels of his chair around and wheeled himself away from Jaemin, who stood there in utter shock at the harsh response. 

Jaemin took this as a challenge, who, as soon as he had gotten over his initial shock took to walking after Jeno. “You’ve got it all wrong, I’m not pitying yo-” Jaemin was abruptly cut off by Jeno stopping and turning to face him, who upon the abrupt stop almost ran straight into the chair. “Listen, this isn’t your job description. You said you were a caretaker, right? That you want a friend? Then take care and make friends with them,” Jeno said, motioning to the elders, “I’m not useless, and I don’t have dementia, so if you really do want a friend then pick Miss Park, she doesn’t remember anything after a day so you’ll be ever to make a friend everyday,” Jeno harshly spat out, glaring at Jaemin. “I really wasn’t trying to pity you, I just wanted to be your friend. You looked sad,” Jaemin whispered out. Something flashed in Jeno’s eyes and his expression softened, right before it hardened back into a glare so quickly that Jaemin thought he had imagined it. “Well your job description isn’t emotional support now is it?” Jeno practically growled out as he turned his wheelchair and continued down the hall, leaving Jaemin standing there.

Jaemin did in fact befriend Miss Park, and as Jeno had said, she didn’t remember anything, so Jaemin became her new friend everyday he’d been coming in, a grand total of two months, spending his afternoons once he got out from school and his weekends there, except for Sunday. Everyday he would see Jeno staring out the same window, sometimes the elders would talk to him and shower him with attention. Jeno always ended up helping the elders, letting Miss Park ride in his wheelchair while he sat on the couch, while letting Mr. Cham have his dessert. Sometimes Jaemin wondered if he’d ever get to see Jeno smile, he’d thought he’d seen his lips twitch before, but it may have just been his mind. He always saw him except for thursdays, he’d never seen Jeno on a thursday before. In fact, despite their rude interaction, Jaemin missed the cute face of the sad boy, and out of curiosity, he asked Mark where he was, “Thursdays are his physical therapy days. Jeno, well, he doesn’t like anyone seeing him then,” Mark explained, and Jaemin simply nodded, realizing that the care home’s physical therapy room was closed to others on thursdays specifically for Jeno.

Later the same day, it was getting dark out, meaning Jaemin’s shift would be over in about an hour, so he was finishing up checking on all the elders. As he was making his way back from Mr. Cham’s room, he heard a loud clatter and thump, followed by a shout coming from Jeno’s room. Without thinking Jaemin rushed inside. Jeno’s room decorated with various posters. Posters from cartoons and bands plastered the wall, old toys from when he was thirteen were thrown into a corner, a pull up bar was in the other corner of the room, and in the other was a desk and a lamp, Jeno’s bed laid in the middle of the room pushed up against the wall, overall it had a childish vibe about it up until you reached the bare wall, where the only decoration was the black pull up bar. Jeno’s wheelchair was pushed over, along with a drawer, not far from it laid Jeno, who was struggling to get back to it. 

Jeno looked up to see Jaemin running over to him, “Stop. I can do it,” Jeno said, but Jaemin ignored him and set up Jeno’s wheelchair, and moved to sit Jeno up, who kept telling him to stop, until Jeno shouted, “Stop!” only then did Jaemin hear the shakiness of his voice, and saw the tears threatening to spill, “Please stop. I don’t-I just-I don’t want to be useless. Let me do it,” Jeno said, his voice cracking as he looked at Jaemin. “You’re not useless Jeno,” Jaemin said, mindlessly wiping his tears away, “Far from it,” he muttered as he helping Jeno back into his chair, only then did he notice the sprawled out contents of the drawer that seemed to have been the reason that Jeno fell.

Medals and photos were laying on the ground. It was Jeno, but he was smiling in a track uniform, holding a gold medal in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. There were photos of him with a group of people that he didn’t know, smiling with each other, and photos of Jeno running. Jaemin also noticed that all the metals were gold, and all the photos were before he was in the wheelchair. One thing stood out to Jaemin, Jeno’s smile. Taeil was right, Jeno had a beautifully adorable eye smile.

Jaemin looked over to Jeno with a question formed in his head, “Why do you hide these? You look so happy, you’re smile, it’s breathtaking,” he questioned. “It hurts,” Jeno answered, looking down at his hands, hiding his flushed cheeks from Jaemin, “To look at those pictures, to see what I used to have, what I could have had, what I want so badly, then to remember that it was all taken from me in the blink of an eye,” he finished, looking up only for Jaemin to see more tears in his eyes. Jaemin moved closer and sat on the edge of Jeno’s bed, sitting directly across from Jeno, and once again leaned over to wipe his tears.

Jeno gently grabbed Jaemin’s hand and lowered it, holding it in both of his, “The accident wasn’t my fault. I was walking to my foster home from school, track practice had been cancelled and it was raining, hard. I walked to the crosswalk and pressed the button, waiting for the red hand to change to the green man. I remember seeing it change, so I started walking, but because it was raining so hard, I couldn’t tell the difference from the rain and the motorcycle that was speeding down the street. I remember turning just in time to see it come straight at me, then I woke up in a hospital. I thought I was okay, that nothing bad had happened, until I realized that I couldn’t feel my legs. Ever since then, I’ve never been able to regain slight feeling, and today, they told me, that the chance of me walking again, are one out of one hundred,” Jeno spilled out, more tears spilling down his cheeks.

He sounded heartbroken, and all Jaemin could do was lean over and bring the fragile boy into a hug, “That means there’s still a chance, right?” Jeno asked as he started to sob into Jaemin’s shoulder. Jaemin realized then just how much hope Jeno had left, and how much he desperately needed more, “There’s always a chance. Prove the doctors wrong, prove everyone who ever said you couldn’t wrong,” Jaemin said, “You’re funny Na Jaemin. I’ve been nothing but mean to you, and I told you to get lost, but here you are, comforting me after helping me back into my wheelchair,” Jeno said, leaning back into his wheelchair as he wiped his final few tears away, “Making me feel weird,” he finished. “A good weird?” Jaemin asked, and for the first time in almost two years, Jeno smiled and let out a laugh, “Definitely,” Jeno said, nodding. Jaemin could practically hear the angels singing in the background along with the whispers of his devilish friends saying ‘you’re whipped’ but Jeno didn’t need to know that, he also didn’t need to know that from then on Jaemin had made it his mission to get him to smile everyday.

When Jaemin came back the next day, he was a bit scared that Jeno would go back to being cold to him, but his worries proved worthless as soon as he walked through the door and Jeno shot him a smile from where he was by the window. Jeno’s smile seemed to stop everyone dead in their tracks, Taeil almost dropped a food tray and Mark practically fainted into Taeyong’s arms. Jeno’s smile was even cuter in daylight, even cuter than the photos.

“Oh my god! I haven’t seen a Jeno smile in years!” Donghyuck shouted as he popped from behind Jaemin. Donghyuck being one of Jeno’s few friends to stick by him, had been wanting to see Jeno smile again for awhile, but more or less all he got was endless teasing from Jeno about his crush on Mark. “Are you Jaemin? Jeno’s source of happiness?” Donghyuck asked, “Hyuck!” Jeno shouted as his face flushed, but all he got in return was a wicked grin, “I’m Donghyuck,” he introduced himself, “And I’m not here to third wheel I’m here to gawk at Mark so if you’ll excuse me,” Donghyuck finished, sitting on the couch with Miss Park and staring at Mark while pretending to read his Vogue magazine and snacking on pretzels. 

Jeno waved Jaemin over, but not before shooting Donghyuck a dirty glare. As soon as Jaemin signed in at the front desk he made his way over to Jeno, leaning over to hug the now flustered boy. Now that Jaemin knew Jeno didn’t hate him, he was getting his groove of confidence back. “I have to run some daily errands but here. I never gave you my number,” Jaemin whispered into Jeno’s ear while putting a piece of paper into his hand, sending chills down his spine, not anticipating this side of Jaemin he’d never seen before. Unfortunately for Jeno, now that his walls were broken, he was left a blushing mess. “Hyung’s putting the moves on you!” Donghyuck shouted, bites of pretzels flying everywhere, “Donghyuck?” Mark questioned, recognizing and spotting him, “Shit that’s my cue,” Donghyuck muttered, putting down his vogue magazine and waltzing to the front desk where Mark was stationed. 

Jeno, who fumbled to grab his phone will still being a blushing mess, typed in Jaemin’s phone number. Mindlessly he gave Jaemin a nickname, Nana, along with a few heart emojis. Jaemin didn’t have to know about the hearts beside his name, but he was quickly turned into a blushing mess when Jeno shouted, “Nana!” While rolling down towards him. It sounded, so, so, so, cute to hear Jeno shout it, followed by a laugh. It didn’t change either, ever since then everytime Jeno called Jaemin Nana, it made him blush, it was Jeno’s one defense against all the countless times Jaemin would make him blush. 

“Nana,” Jeno started, a few days later, his head on Jaemin’s lap, all of the elders were in their room so Jeno‘s legs were laying on the couch with help from Jaemin, “Donghyuck told me that you’re on the soccer team. Why haven’t you invited me to one of the games?” Jeno asked, a pout clearly evident in his tone of voice and facial expression. “Wait. You wanna go to one of my games? Really?!” Jaemin exclaimed, “I thought you wouldn’t want to go back to school. I didn’t want to pressure you into anything and I really like you so I didn’t want to make you do something and you’d hate me for it,” Jaemin said, ‘accidentally’ letting his real feelings for Jeno slip. “Yo-you like me? Like, you really like me?” Jeno asked, face once again flushed bright red. 

“I haven’t told you. I’ve fallen for you Lee Jeno, that smile of yours sealed the deal as soon as I saw it,” Jaemin confessed, looking down at the boy laying on his lap and smiling down at him, “Really?” Jeno asked, instead of getting a verbal reply Jaemin leaned down to close the gap between the two, “Really. So, will you come to my game on Monday as my boyfriend?” Jaemin asked, leaving a breathless and flustered Jeno to simply nod his head in agreeance, before Jaemin reached down to once again kiss the black headed boy, running his fingers through his hair, “Hey, blue really suits you. I like it a lot on you,” Jaemin muttered in between kisses, as Jeno was wearing a pair of black ripped jeans with a sky blue hoodie swallowing him up. 

“You do? Should I give all the elders here a heart attack and ask Mark Hyung to help me dye my hair blue?” Jeno asked. “Don’t let him purm it! Noodle Mork haunts my memory to this day!” Donghyuck shouted as he suddenly appeared from below the front desk. “Donghyuck!” Mark shouted, scared out of his wits by Donghyuck just popping up out of nowhere. Jaemin rolled his eyes at them and then looked back down the Jeno, “God yes. You’d look so beautiful with blue hair,” Jaemin agreed, running his hands through Jeno’s hair once more. 

Monday rolled around, and Jeno found himself excitedly sitting in the closest row to the field, with Donghyuck and Chenle. His newly dyed blue hair was messy in an endearing way, and he wore a pair of black shorts and the same sky blue hoodie that swallowed him up, he knew he was attracting attention to himself, after all he was used to it, but he didn’t care. He was here for Jaemin, his boyfriend, to support him just as Jaemin has supported him through everything. “Hey! The players are running out! Look! It’s Jisung!” Chenle shouted, waving at his boyfriend. Jeno didn’t listen though, he was focused on spotting Jaemin, who he’s heard everyone talking about prior and plus, Donghyuck has explained to him that Jaemin was a big deal at school. 

Jeno spotted Jaemin and quickly shouted his name, although he didn’t think he’d be heard through the large crowd of people, so he was shocked to see Jaemin turn his head and run over to the bleachers. Jaemin jumped up and used his upper body strength to support him as he leaned over to Jeno, “Kiss me blue boy. You’re my good luck charm,” Jaemin said as Jeno quickly nodded and leaned forward as well, closing the gap between them. Donghyuck and Chenle were the first to start cheering at it, followed by the rest of the crowd, except for some, who tried to curse at them, but the keyword was true. “Good luck! I love you!” Jeno shouted, forming a heart with his arms. Jaemin threw up on with his fingers as he ran over to the field, getting ready to start the game. 

It was during the game that Jeno suddenly felt it, something he’d been longing to feel. A twitch, in his right leg. It was short lived, but for a full minute, Jeno could feel part of his right leg, and he made sure the entire world heard it as he shouted to Jaemin, who was struggling on the field, “Nana! I felt my right leg! I think you’re my good luck charm!” that shout seemed to be Jaemin’s second wind, as Jeno cheered happily, knowing that he was going to beat the odds set against him, and it was all thanks to Na Jaemin. 

 

Three years later~

Jeno felt the rush, the wind in his hair, the sound of his competitors, but above all he heard the love of his life cheering him on, in a stadium as big as this one, he could only hear Jaemin who was cheering on the sidelines. He focused on that as he reached the finish line, hitting first place. As soon as he crossed the line he was bombarded by photographers, flowers, but he didn’t care, he only cared about Jaemin who had ran at him at full speed, “Jeno! You did it! I knew you could, from the moment I met you!” Jaemin exclaimed, pulling the new Olympic gold medalist in for a kiss. 

Na Jeno, a man who had been paralyzed until three years ago, had just won a gold medal in the eight hundred meter Olympic dash, and Na Jaemin, had won the World Cup with his soccer team a year prior. In the sports world, the Na’s were that couple, who could do it all and had it all. Jaemin focused on the love of his life, the man he’d managed to marry a few month ago, and he saw that gorgeous eye smile, making him realize, that once again, he was indeed the luckiest man alive.


End file.
